French Twist Those Bangs!

A few years ago, I was playing around with the front pieces of my hair and came up with a cute way to french twist my bangs back! It is trendy, quick, easy and hides the grease :)

Start with your hair parted further over than usual.

Tease the hair around the crown of your head. (I always tease my hair before I style it. I can't stand seeing bed head or a part that goes all the way down the back of heads lol) 

Don't be afraid to get some height. Remember, your hair will fall, especially after you play with it.

Next, grab the front section of your hair. Divide the section into two larger pieces.

Let the twisting begin!  Twist the sections of hair around each other - away from your face.

Each time you twist, pick up another section of hair around your face. Essentially, you are just french twisting these pieces of hair.

Continue twisting toward your ear.

When you get passed your ear, take a bobby pin that blends with your hair and slide it in from the bottom pointing upwards.

If one bobby pin doesn't feel tight enough, you can add another by crossing it over making an 'X' to lock them in.

You can leave your hair down with some loose/natural waves...

Or pull it into a pony or braid!

Hope this will help you the next time you're running late or when you're just too lazy to wash your hair :)

We would love to see you make this style your own. Send us pictures and comment below!

- Angela Liljenquist

Double Front Braid

We are totally loving braids this season!  It is a great way to add personality to your hair and SO easy.  Today we are going to show you how to do a "double front braid" perfect for long and short hair. Angela will be the model for today so don't mind her dark roots, it just adds dimension, right?! ;) 

Prep your hair to your likings, i.e. straight, curl, natural, etc. We parted Angela's hair over a little further than usual because we like that look with braids and it just gives you more space to show off your braid :)

Take a section of hair on the back half of the part (about 1x1 inch) and separate into three to start the braid. I did about 3 or 4 inside braids before actually picking up hair to create the french look.

 

Continue that pattern till about 2 inches above the ear.  This will make the braid less uniform and thin because you're not picking up as much hair. This was the look we wanted so if you want a more clean and uniform look go ahead and pick up hair every time you cross!

Once you stop the french, finish the braid off and secure. You can use a small elastic or I just used a bobby pin because it will only be temporary.

Begin second braid (just like the first) leaving you bangs or the section of hair closest to the hair line out. This will give you more of a soft look. If you want your hair out of your face, you can braid it all.

Again adding hair to the braid about every 3 or 4 patterns. I am getting the hair from underneath the braids rather picking it up from the sides. We can do this because we aren't picking up hair every time and this will allow the braids to be closer together.

Stopping the french pattern about 1 inch above the ear for the front braid and continuing the braid down to the end.

Section off the back hair, middle hair (hair between the braids), and front hair.

Pin the back braid so it is secure against the head and low enough to be covered by the loose hair.

I like to use two bobby pins and cross them like an "X" so they wont slip and will be secure.

Using the same technique pin the front braid down just above/behind ear in an "X" so it will be tight and hidden. You will want to keep the middle section of loose hair out because that is what will cover and hide your bobby pins.

Adjust lose hair over the bobby pins and it should fall naturally over the bobby pins. If not pull the braid back and under the hair a little more.

Finish with a little tease at the crown and spray to hold.

You can see that the braided sections of hair are not clean and distinct. I think it looks better this way. We've tried it before using clean parted sections and an outside braid but it looked like "corn rows" and that was not the look we were going for!

 It looks great pulled back into a pony as well, so play with it and have fun!

Thanks for visiting!

~ Angela and Marianne

Front French Braid Video Tutorial

Here is a tutorial we made of the front french braid in our previous post.  Hopefully it helps some of you, and remember... Practice makes perfect!  It will take a few times to get it just the way you want it!

~Angela and Marianne

Front Braid to Sock Bun

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are enjoying the holidays!  We love this time of year, it really is the perfect season to try new looks!

Today we are going to mix it up and show you guys one of our favorite hair styles.  We are putting two trends together: the front braid and the the sock bun.  They compliment each other extremely well and it's a classic look.

First, we determined what kind of french braid we wanted.  Angela likes a thicker, loose braid, so we parted her hair a little further over than she usually does and picked up about a 3-inch wide and 1-inch thick section of hair and started an outside french braid. 

We continued the braid down the front but stopped the french style at the ear and finished a normal braid all the way to the end.  We fastened the braid with a small rubber band on the end and set aside.

Next, we "ratted" (or teased, some may say) the crown of her hair to get a little height.  For those of you scared of the rat-tail comb, don't be!  A little teasing of the hair can make such a difference to the face and hairstyle.  We then put the rest of her hair (not the braided piece) into a ponytail and got our nifty sock bun accessory!  You can use a regular sock by cutting the toe off and rolling it up, or you can get one of these doughnuts from any hair supply store, which we used:

We pulled the ponytail through the hole so all of the hair except the braid was in the sock or doughnut hole, bringing the doughnut/sock down towards the ends of her hair stopping before it fell out. Most of the time our hair is layered when we pull it back for a ponytail so be sure to watch for the shorter hair and not to go too far. Angela had about a 3 inch tail.  We tucked the remaining hair around the doughnut/sock so it was evenly spread around. I didn't do this step very well and that is why the bun isn't perfectly symmetrical. I don't think it's a huge deal though, it just adds character :) 

Then, we started to roll the doughnut/sock up towards her head. If the hair around the doughnut/sock starts to become loose or fall out, just pull the doughnut/sock down a little bit (don't unroll, just pull) to make the hair tighter or tuck the hair in.  We finished the roll so it was close and tight to Angela's head. If needed, secure the edges with a few bobby pins. I always secure it because it's better to be safe than sorry! :)

We took the braid and wrapped it under then around the bun so it was pulled tightly. If your braid is not long enough to reach all the way around just tuck it into or under the bun.  We secured all around the bun with bobby pins. Be sure to tuck the little elastic and hair ends in so they are not visible.

We then pulled the hair at the top of her crown and on the side just a little to give it more height and imperfection. You can also tug on the braided sections a little to loosen it up if it's too tight and make it more messy.

We finished with hairspray and VOILA! Who knew you could make a braid and a bun so stylish?!  Have fun with the placement of the bun or by adding a braid, twist, barrette, headband, etc.  This only took us about 10 minutes. 

 ~Angela and  Marianne